UN food agency warns that the new US sea route for Gaza aid may fail unless conditions improve

The UN World Food Programme says that the new US $320 million pier project for delivering aid to Gaza may fail unless Israel starts providing the conditions the humanitarian groups need to operate safely, after a chaotic launch ended with much of the aid looted by Palestinians and one Palestinian man dead.

Deliveries from the pier were stopped Sunday after Saturday’s aid convoy was unable to reach warehouses within Gaza as intended, the WFP said. The first 10 trucks had entered through the pier on Friday.

Ten trucks entered through the US-made pier on Friday and were taken to its warehouse in central Gaza. But a delivery Saturday of 11 trucks was stopped by crowds of Palestinians who took supplies, and only five trucks made it to the warehouse.

The UN agency is now reevaluating logistics and security measures and looking for alternate routes within Gaza, says spokesperson Abeer Etefa.

The WFP is working with the US Agency for International Development to coordinate delivery of food from the new US route.